Talking Heads DualDisc reissues - anybody compare these?
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:08 am
I've only heard the redbook layer, and I'm not really impressed. The bonus tracks are a major letdown. The acoustic version of "Psycho Killer" is pretty good, but everything that wasn't on SAND IN THE VASELINE feels like table scraps.
As for the mastering, there's a little bit of limiting and a few clipped peaks (not really audible, at least not on a computer speaker). I don't think they're an enormous improvement over the older CD's. Maybe the DVD-A side is but not the redbook layer. The older CD of '77 seems to have been thinned out a tiny bit, a little more in the upper, upper frequencies. REMAIN IN LIGHT and FEAR OF MUSIC are okay, could use some more clarity or definition. LITTLE CREATURES and SPEAKING IN TONGUES sound 'fine' even though LITTLE CREATURES sounds pretty hard and sharp (I think that's how it was recorded). Those are the old CD's.
The new remasters sound a tad hard in general. More definition and a bit more clear but harder and colder. The bass may have had something done to it, like a dB or two taken out of the upper bass frequencies. Ted Jensen supposedly mastered these and if you liked his Bob Marley remasters, you might like this, but I'm not really impressed.
Anybody try the hi-res layer? You can't really compare the 5.1, there's nothing to compare it too so I guess if you have a 5.1 setup, you can knock yourself out with these.
As for the mastering, there's a little bit of limiting and a few clipped peaks (not really audible, at least not on a computer speaker). I don't think they're an enormous improvement over the older CD's. Maybe the DVD-A side is but not the redbook layer. The older CD of '77 seems to have been thinned out a tiny bit, a little more in the upper, upper frequencies. REMAIN IN LIGHT and FEAR OF MUSIC are okay, could use some more clarity or definition. LITTLE CREATURES and SPEAKING IN TONGUES sound 'fine' even though LITTLE CREATURES sounds pretty hard and sharp (I think that's how it was recorded). Those are the old CD's.
The new remasters sound a tad hard in general. More definition and a bit more clear but harder and colder. The bass may have had something done to it, like a dB or two taken out of the upper bass frequencies. Ted Jensen supposedly mastered these and if you liked his Bob Marley remasters, you might like this, but I'm not really impressed.
Anybody try the hi-res layer? You can't really compare the 5.1, there's nothing to compare it too so I guess if you have a 5.1 setup, you can knock yourself out with these.